NERC to hold public hearing over ‘disturbing’ grid collapses

The Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) Saturday expressed concerns over the reoccurring collapse of the national electricity grid, stressing a public hearing would be held over the issue.

NERC said in a statement that he increasing frequency of grid collapse remained worrisome , warning that the development could undermine the recent progress in reducing infrastructure deficits and improving grid stability across the country.

In a statement released following the latest grid incident, NERC reported that this morning’s outage, which began at 8:15 a.m., was triggered by an explosion of a current transformer at the Jebba transmission station. The incident caused a cascade of power plant shutdowns due to the sudden loss of load on the grid.

Although the information on the grid system showed that most states are still in darkness, the Commission noted that efforts to restore power have been largely successful.

As part of efforts to address recurring grid disturbances, NERC highlighted the ongoing unbundling of the System Operator (SO) function from the Transmission Company of Nigeria (TCN).
This unbundling, mandated under the Electricity Act 2023, NERC said aims to create an independent System Operator that will enhance grid discipline and drive optimized investments in infrastructure.

To identify the immediate and underlying causes of these outages, NERC announced plans to conduct an investigative public hearing.
The hearing, which will involve key stakeholders, seeks to offer lasting solutions to the challenges facing the national grid.